Wenger

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

Well if Bergkamp is a Dein signing so was Vieira,Petit, Henry and practically every other after the Graham scandal and till the unfortunate day Dein was pushed out.

Anyway TTBOMK Wenger has never personally claimed any credit or knowledge of/for the signing of a Bergkamp- while the man who actually signed him has more than once:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...al/4976142.stm
here he explains the reasoning behind it better
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...al/2629507.stm
And so it doesn't seem like Rioch was so effusive only after the Bergkamp star had already shun, heres an article from that time (the best read, for other reasons IMO)
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/r...a-1587607.html

And finally heres an interview with the ICEMAN himself where he states how BOTH Rioch and Dein courted him and the famous Moratti quote made to whom.... Rioch it seems.
http://www.fourfourtwo.com/interview...1/article.aspx

So yeah.... until i see something resembling evidence, I think I'll discard the biographer's opinion and take it as an admirer trying to bigup his idol :shock:

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

Butressing the point PnG made about the effect of the Graham players, Keown interviewing the ICEMAN, pls read what the ICEMAN says

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...-Bergkamp.html

[Özim]

Well if Bergkamp is a Dein signing so was Vieira,Petit, Henry and practically every other after the Graham scandal and till the unfortunate day Dein was pushed out.

Anyway TTBOMK Wenger has never personally claimed any credit or knowledge of/for the signing of a Bergkamp- while the man who actually signed him has more than once:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...al/4976142.stm
here he explains the reasoning behind it better
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...al/2629507.stm
And so it doesn't seem like Rioch was so effusive only after the Bergkamp star had already shun, heres an article from that time (the best read, for other reasons IMO)
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/r...a-1587607.html

And finally heres an interview with the ICEMAN himself where he states how BOTH Rioch and Dein courted him and the famous Moratti quote made to whom.... Rioch it seems.
http://www.fourfourtwo.com/interview...1/article.aspx

So yeah.... until i see something resembling evidence, I think I'll discard the biographer's opinion and take it as an admirer trying to bigup his idol :shock:

There's no doubt he was a Rioch signing, the guy went after Platt (and got him) and Juninho as well and his Bolton team were a very good footballing side (the type of signings these are point to a manager who wants his team to play football).

The Wenger/Bergkamp story is a nonsense which people who loved Wenger so much wanted to believe, Rioch never gets any credit for anything despite steadying the ship and doing a good job after a rocky period, the way he was treated was shocking IMO.

[Cripps_orig]

There's no doubt he was a Rioch signing, the guy went after Platt (and got him) and Juninho as well and his Bolton team were a very good footballing side (the type of signings these are point to a manager who wants his team to play football).

The Wenger/Bergkamp story is a nonsense which people who loved Wenger so much wanted to believe, Rioch never gets any credit for anything despite steadying the ship and doing a good job after a rocky period, the way he was treated was shocking IMO.

Spot fucking on

[Olivier's xmas twist]

There's no doubt he was a Rioch signing, the guy went after Platt (and got him) and Juninho as well and his Bolton team were a very good footballing side (the type of signings these are point to a manager who wants his team to play football).

The Wenger/Bergkamp story is a nonsense which people who loved Wenger so much wanted to believe, Rioch never gets any credit for anything despite steadying the ship and doing a good job after a rocky period, the way he was treated was shocking IMO.

Yep, but i suppose with Wenger bringing in Overmars, Petit and more and transforming the team that took precedence over anything esle tbh. Fans were not bothred about who brought who in just how they played and once they won that 1st league it was like Bruce who.

[BOBN]

ian wright on his radio show (absolute radio) about 2 weeks ago stopped a caller in his tracks who was crediting rioch with the bergkamp signing and said he was a dein signing. added that dein knew the club had to make a statement at that point in time and went out and did it, and he couldnt just "let rioch take the credit for it". even tho tbf its well known that wright and rioch didnt get on.

can you imagine arsenal absolutely shattering their transfer record on the say so of some unproven lower-league boss before hed even completed one competitive match with the club? behave yourselves. and im not even one of these dein cock-suckers.

and on top of that I remember, not even a teenager, watching inter milan just to see bergkamp play. yes he would later been known as a flop but he was still a class apart in terms of technique. whether it was dein, rioch or wenger... you didnt need to be a genius to spot and buy bergkamp.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Spot fucking on

I must have missed all your posts on this matter before you shifted your pendulum from one extreme to the other, neatly avoiding any middle ground along the way.

[Cripps_orig]

I must have missed all your posts on this matter before you shifted your pendulum from one extreme to the other, neatly avoiding any middle ground along the way.

Ive always said Bergkamp was a Rioch signing

Not once have i changed that

[Özim]

ian wright on his radio show (absolute radio) about 2 weeks ago stopped a caller in his tracks who was crediting rioch with the bergkamp signing and said he was a dein signing. added that dein knew the club had to make a statement at that point in time and went out and did it, and he couldnt just "let rioch take the credit for it". even tho tbf its well known that wright and rioch didnt get on.

can you imagine arsenal absolutely shattering their transfer record on the say so of some unproven lower-league boss before hed even completed one competitive match with the club? behave yourselves. and im not even one of these dein cock-suckers.

and on top of that I remember, not even a teenager, watching inter milan just to see bergkamp play. yes he would later been known as a flop but he was still a class apart in terms of technique. whether it was dein, rioch or wenger... you didnt need to be a genius to spot and buy bergkamp.

Rioch at the time was a very good manager, his Bolton team had beaten top sides like Liverpool and ourselves in the cups (amongst others) and were great to watch with the likes of McAteer, Thompson and Stubbs.

Dein was no doubt involved but to suggest a player is signed without the manager's say so at Arsenal is incorrect IMO.

[Xhaka Can’t]

ian wright on his radio show (absolute radio) about 2 weeks ago stopped a caller in his tracks who was crediting rioch with the bergkamp signing and said he was a dein signing. added that dein knew the club had to make a statement at that point in time and went out and did it, and he couldnt just "let rioch take the credit for it". even tho tbf its well known that wright and rioch didnt get on.

can you imagine arsenal absolutely shattering their transfer record on the say so of some unproven lower-league boss before hed even completed one competitive match with the club? behave yourselves. and im not even one of these dein cock-suckers.

and on top of that I remember, not even a teenager, watching inter milan just to see bergkamp play. yes he would later been known as a flop but he was still a class apart in terms of technique. whether it was dein, rioch or wenger... you didnt need to be a genius to spot and buy bergkamp.

There is as you say too much bad blood there to buy what Wright has to say. But I remember back in the day being aghast at the lack of respect Wright showed for his Manager. At the time I thought, that's it, Wright is out of here next season. Little did I know.

Rioch was badly treated, he steadied a ship, and while it was bizarre at the time what happened to him at Arsenal, the bizarreness is miniscule in comparison to the trajectory his career took after he was sacked.

Some day, I'd love to know what the hell actually happened in the years following GG's sacking.